A demonstration of an affinity between pyrite and organic matter in a hydrothermal setting

One of the key-principles of the iron-sulphur world theory is to bring organic molecules close enough to interact with each other, using the surface of pyrite as a substrate in a hydrothermal setting. The present paper explores the relationship of pyrite and organic matter in a hydrothermal setting from the geological record; in hydrothermal calcite veins from Carboniferous limestones in central Ireland. Here, the organic matter is accumulated as coatings around, and through, pyrite grains. Most of the pyrite grains are euhedral-subhedral crystals, ranging in size from ca 0.1-0.5 mm in diameter, and they are scattered throughout the matrix of the vein calcite. The organic matter was deposited from a hydrothermal fluid at a temperature of at least 200°C, and gives a Raman signature of disordered carbon. This study points to an example from a hydrothermal setting in the geological record, demonstrating that pyrite can have a high potential for the concentration and accumulation of organic materials

Toward safer thanatopraxy cares: formaldehyde-releasers use.

Human cadavers constitute very useful educational tools to teach anatomy in medical scholarship and related disciplines such as physiology, for example. However, as biological material, human body is subjected to decay. Thanatopraxy cares such as embalming have been developed to slow down and inhibit this decay, but the formula used for the preservation fluids are mainly formaldehyde (FA)-based. Very recently, other formulas were developed in order to replace FA, and to avoid its toxicity leading to important environmental and professional exposure concerns. However, these alternative FA-free fluids are still not validated or commercialized, and their efficiency is still under discussion. In this context, the use of FA-releasing substances, already used in the cosmetics industry, may offer interesting alternatives in order to reduce professional exposures to FA. Simultaneously, the preservation of the body is still guaranteed by FA generated over time from FA-releasers. The aim of this review is to revaluate the use of FA in thanatopraxy cares, to present its benefits and disadvantages, and finally to propose an alternative to reduce FA professional exposure during thanatopraxy cares thanks to FA-releasers use

Decision theory applied to image quality control in radiology

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Search for CP violation in D+→ϕπ+ and D+s→K0Sπ+ decays

A search for CP violation in D + → ϕπ + decays is performed using data collected in 2011 by the LHCb experiment corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1 at a centre of mass energy of 7 TeV. The CP -violating asymmetry is measured to be (−0.04 ± 0.14 ± 0.14)% for candidates with K − K + mass within 20 MeV/c 2 of the ϕ meson mass. A search for a CP -violating asymmetry that varies across the ϕ mass region of the D + → K − K + π + Dalitz plot is also performed, and no evidence for CP violation is found. In addition, the CP asymmetry in the D+s→K0Sπ+ decay is measured to be (0.61 ± 0.83 ± 0.14)%